Letters to the Editor: The boat tragedy

The boat accident on September 8, 2 km downstream in the Brhmaputra off the Nimatighat jetty is a harsh reminder of similar tragic accidents occurred in the past several years; yet the Inland Water Transport Department (IWTD) did not learn lessons from the past blunders. IWTD of Assam should own the responsibility for failure to enforce safety norms on the private operators as per clauses of the Regulatory Act. The factors that were responsible for the Wednesday's boat mishap had been staring for years-long apathy and inaction of the IWTD, and so the accountability of the organization has to be fixed and the guilty should be punished. The ill-fated mechanized boat owned by a private operator was overloaded with over 100 passengers as per local people's version with motorbikes and other personal goods. The boat started off the Nimatighat jetty and collided with the IWTD-run vessel coming from Majuli. Initial report suggests that over 50 were feared drowned; while 41 others were rescued by the local boatmen but later an injured woman, a college teacher, succumbed to her injuries at the JMCH. Of the missing number included one ENT surgeon from Jorhat. As there were uncounted number of passengers it is not immediately known exactly the total number of fatalities, which will be ascertained only after families confirm their missing members.

Nowadays the Government announces cash compensation for the deaths to the nearest kin but the same cannot soothe the pains of disconsolate relatives who have lost parent or husband or son, daughter or even the family's only earning member. The IWTD as well as the river police has to be sensitized to see that the vessels are equipped with life safety accessories. Proper surveillance of the vessel is needed at the jetty to restrict passengers and their belongings. The right to life is a fundamental right of the citizens, and so it is the duty of the state to take precautions to prevent citizens' death due to human negligence.

Pannalal Dey,

Guwahati

Emma Raducanu

That is just ridiculous for tennis lovers! Even, wonder that in the US Open Women 18-year-old Briton Emma Raducanu (she is the youngest grand slam champion since Maria Sharapova in 2004) beats Canadian Leylah Annie Fernandez 6-4, 6-3, she has not only to win the title 10 matches without dropping a set, but so many basic milestones she has recorded in a professional tennis career that only began in full three months ago. She has never been a direct entrant to a grand slam main draw, she is yet to play a tour-level three-set match and she has not even won a match at a WTA tour event. Besides, Raducanu is the first British woman to win a grand slam title since Virginia Wade's Wimbledon victory in 1977. She is the first qualifier, man or woman, to win a grand slam title. I doubt we'll ever see that again in the near future. Emma Raducanu, is a supernova! She has been outstanding and deserves all the praise that she will get. But one hopes that Raducanu seems to have a very good head on her shoulders that she wants to continue to do a good job at keeping her with her two feet on the ground, and able to handle the media and all the pulls she will get from so many. Kudos to Raducanu and Fernandez, between them one can't think of a more spectacular sporting moment in living memory of the US Open women's final.

Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee,

Faridabad 121004